1There are many graphics designers, artists and game writers who would love to work on GNU/Linux but may find themselves helpless, because one of the most important devices that enables them to create artwork and illustrations—the digital pen—may or may not work on this operating system. Well, the problem arises because although vendors love to advertise the fact that their devices are compatible with Windows and Mac, they don’t mention anything about GNU/Linux even if it’s supported out of the box. So, the end-user in search of a digital pen has no clue.

I recently bought an iBall pen [WP8060]. I had checked the website and knew that it did not work on GNU/Linux. The only reason I went in for this pen was that iBall’s device was the only product available in Delhi at that point of time. Despite knowing that it did not work on GNU/Linux, I deliberately asked the shopkeeper if it did. He said, “No!” But he got the message that there are GNU/Linux users interested in using this pen. I replied, “Ah, it will work—everything works on GNU/Linux.”

So I got down to work and found that I might have some luck with this device after all. I must mention that the whole credit of this tutorial goes to the fine fellows who developed the drivers and other utility packages, and the bloggers who scribbled down the instructions to use these tools.

I work on Ubuntu 8.10, which will be the target platform for this tutorial. However, other distro users need not worry, as I’ll have to start off by compiling from source.

First off, download the latest Wizardpen driver source [wizardpen-0.7.0-alpha2.tar.gz—I have created a Tiny URL to make it easy for you. You can find the original location in the foot-note to this article.] Uncompress the package after you’re done with downloading:

$ tar -xzvf wizardpen-0.7.0-alpha2.tar.gz

The next step is to compile this source. However, to successfully do that, download and install the following additional packages:

xutils libx11-dev

libxext-dev

build-essential

xautomation

xinput

xserver-xorg-dev

Time to compile the driver now. Change the directory to where you extracted the wizardpen driver–for example, if you’ve extracted it on the ~/Desktop:

$ cd /home/dragon/Desktop/wizardpen-0.7.0-alpha2/

Now, run the following command to compile the driver:

$ ./configure --with-xorg-module-dir=/usr/lib/xorg/modules$ make && sudo make install

After this, to check whether things have installed successfully or not:

$ ls /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wizardpen_drv.*

The above command should give you the following output:

wizardpen_drv.lawizardpen_drv.so

If you see these two lines, congratulations! Your drivers are now installed! However, you’re only half way through.

In order to configure your tablet, you will have to create a new .fdi file in the /etc/hal/fdi/policy directory. But before that we need to know the name of your Tablet pen as recognised by HAL. Plug your Tablet to your machine and then run:

$ grep -i name /proc/bus/input/devices

This should give you an output like this:

N: Name="Macintosh mouse button emulation"N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"N: Name="Power Button (FF)"N: Name="Power Button (CM)"N: Name="PC Speaker"N: Name="ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse"N: Name="Tablet PF8060"

Note the last line—this is the name of your Tablet as recognised by the system.

You will now have to create a policy directory for this. Create a file called /etc/hal/fdi/policy/99-x11-wizardpen.fdi with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?><deviceinfo version=”0.2”><device><!-- Tablet PF8060 --><match key="info.product" contains="Tablet PF8060"><merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">wizardpen</merge><merge key="input.x11_options.SendCoreEvents" type="string">true</merge><merge key="input.x11_options.TopX" type="string">5619</merge><merge key="input.x11_options.TopY" type="string">6554</merge><merge key="input.x11_options.BottomX" type="string">29405</merge><merge key="input.x11_options.BottomY" type="string">29671</merge><merge key="input.x11_options.MaxX" type="string">29405</merge><merge key="input.x11_options.MaxY" type="string">29671</merge></match></device></deviceinfo>

Make sure you replace “Tablet PF8060″ in line numbers 4 and 5 above with the name of your own tablet.

Time to reboot your system. When you’re back, your GNU/Linux will recognise your Tablet and you should be able to use it with The GIMP to create illustrations—or just use it as a mouse.

I used to sketch a lot in the old days, and the combination of GNU/Linux and GIMP, along with this brand-new Tablet, has brought back the memories and the passion to draw. So, excuse me, as I’ve got to sketch some stuff.

Warning: Things do break down at times.

2.

TabletSetupWizardpen

Contents

1. Recent versions of Ubuntu 2. Known tablets working with

the Wizardpen-driver

1. Known Tablet Names (The packaging)

3. Setting up your tablet

1. Method 1

2. Method 2

1. Downloading the driver

2. Building and installing the driver

3. Configuration

1. For Jaunty (9.04) release:

2. For Lucid Lynx (10.04) release:

4. Calibration

1. Calibration output (If calibrate for some reason doesn't work)

5. Setting up X

1. Making X start without a tablet connected

6. Configuring the buttons on the pen

1. The first way (Not very smart, since it also change the behaviour of your generic mouse)

2. The second way

4. Troubleshooting - See this if you have any problems

1. Everything worked great, except the mouse doesn't move at all

2. After X server restart, display reverts to "Safe Mode"

3. The command cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep "wizardpen" outputs errors

4. The Xserver is not starting after playing with the xorg.conf file

5. Everything seems to work, except pressure sensitivity

6. Pressure sensitivity works, but is not calibrated well

7. The tablet is automatically detected as a generic mouse

8. The tablet works but losts cursor on each touch. Cursor reveals if to move pen out and bring it back to tablet

9. Clicking does weird things or the cursor jumps

10. I have problems not solved by the above troubleshooting

11. Related articles

Recent versions of UbuntuMost tablets should be detected automatically in recent versions of Ubuntu. Try connecting it and using it in an application such as MyPaint or GIMP. If that works, you are done and don't have to bother with the following.

Known tablets working with the Wizardpen-driverThe setup has been tested with the following USB tablets. Non-USB tablets are not covered by this guide.

Known Tablet Names (The packaging)

Acecad Flair II GT-504 DigiPro 5.5×4” Graphics Tablet

Digital Ink Pad (A4 format)

G-pen

G-Pen 4500

Genius Wizardpen

Genius Mousepen

Genius Easypen i405

Genius EasyPen M610

Genius G-Pen F610

Genius G-Pen M610

Genius G-Pen 340 (UC-LOGIC Tablet WP4030U)

Genius G-Pen 450 (UC-LOGIC Tablet WP5540U)

Genius

iBall

Manhattan

NGS CADBOY (UC-LOGIC Tablet WP5540U)

Pentagram

QWare

Trust TB-3100

Trust TB-5300

Trust TB-6300

UC-LOGIC

iBall Tablet PF8060

AIPTEK HyperPen 10000 U

AIPTEK Slim Tablet U600 Premium II

Monoprice Graphic Drawing Tablet WP8060-TAB08

Kanvus Artist 127

Kanvus Office 53

Setting up your tablet

Method 1

As of march 2010 the latest wizardpen driver from Wizardpen on Launchpad is available for Ubuntu/Debian as xserver-xorg-input-wizardpen.

* For Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) and Ubuntu Maverick (10.10), just add the following line to the software sources as described in here:

ppa:doctormo/xorg-wizardpen

* For Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/doctormo/xorg-wizardpen/ubuntu jaunty main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/doctormo/xorg-wizardpen/ubuntu jaunty main

After adding the repository install the driver using the command bellow:

sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-wizardpen

Method 2

Open a terminal

Install some needed packages - Run this command:

sudo apt-get install xutils libx11-dev libxext-dev build-essential \ xautomation xinput xserver-xorg-dev xutils-dev libtool \ autoconf

Downloading the driver

You can download the latest driver from Wizardpen on Launchpad. Either try to find a deb or a source package there, or get the latest version using bzr. If you choose to install a source package you can just extract it and skip to "Building and installing the driver".

To install bzr run:

sudo apt-get install bzrbzr branch lp:wizardpen

Now we need to generate the ./configure script:

./autogen.sh

Building and installing the driver

Run these commands from the directory you installed the source:

Configure, make and install:

./configure --with-xorg-module-dir=/usr/lib/xorg/modulesmake && sudo make install

Check the integrity of the driver installation by typing the command.

ls /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wizardpen_drv.*

It should give the output as follows

/usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wizardpen_drv.la/usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wizardpen_drv.so

Configuration

For Jaunty (9.04) release:

Type the following command in the terminal to know the make of the Pentablet.

grep -i name /proc/bus/input/devices

Please note down the make of the tablet which you have to use in the next step.

Create a new .fdi file by using the following command in terminal

sudo vi /etc/hal/fdi/policy/99-x11-wizardpen.fdi

Press 'I' so that INSERT appears Paste the following template in the terminal

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> <deviceinfo version="0.2"> <device> <!-- This MUST match with the name of your tablet obtained --> <!-- in Step 2 specified previously --> <match key="info.product" contains="NAME OF YOUR TABLET"> <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">wizardpen</merge> <merge key="input.x11_options.SendCoreEvents" type="string">true</merge>

<!-- Modify these configuration accordingly --> <!-- See CONFIGURATION OPTIONS section for the full-set of --> <!-- configurable options --> <merge key="input.x11_options.TopX" type="string">5619</merge> <merge key="input.x11_options.TopY" type="string">6554</merge> <merge key="input.x11_options.BottomX" type="string">29405</merge> <merge key="input.x11_options.BottomY" type="string">29671</merge> </match> </device> </deviceinfo>

Please insert the name of your tablet where i have mentioned NAME OF YOUR TABLET. You can do this by moving the cursor in the terminal with arrow keys. Click Esc and type :wq and press Enter to save the file you have created.

Reboot your machine. It should work.

For Lucid Lynx (10.04) release:

Reboot your machine. It should work.

If the tablet is still not working, follow this instructions:

write the following command in the terminal:  ls /dev/input/by-id/ 

copy the caption saying something like:

 *-event-mouse 

that is matching your tablet.

Edit "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wizardpen.conf" file, it should be there if you installed the driver properly (in Maverick this file is /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wizardpen.conf).

If your tablet is Waltop, you would need to add "|WALTOP|Waltop" to MatchVendor value.

Try to set identifier to name of device (you may see it in /var/log/Xorg.0.log, for Genius EasyPen M610 name is "6x10 Tablet").

Now place the caption you copied instead of the "_COPY HERE_" text, also place the same caption instead of the "_COPY HERE TOO_", without the "-event" text:

Section "InputClass" Identifier "wizardpen" MatchIsTablet "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/by-id/___COPY HERE___" MatchVendor "UC-LOGIC|KYE Systems|Ace Cad|WALTOP|Waltop" Driver "wizardpen"EndSectionSection "InputClass" Identifier "wizardpen ignore mouse dev" MatchIsTablet "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/by-id/___COPY HERE TOO___" MatchVendor "UC-LOGIC|KYE Systems|Ace Cad|WALTOP|Waltop" Driver ""EndSection

an example of a complete config file after edit:

Section "InputClass" Identifier "wizardpen" MatchIsTablet "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/by-id/usb-UC-LOGIC_Tablet_WP4030U-event-mouse" MatchVendor "UC-LOGIC|KYE Systems|Ace Cad|WALTOP|Waltop" Driver "wizardpen"EndSectionSection "InputClass" Identifier "wizardpen ignore mouse dev" MatchIsTablet "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/by-id/usb-UC-LOGIC_Tablet_WP4030U-mouse" MatchVendor "UC-LOGIC|KYE Systems|Ace Cad|WALTOP|Waltop" Driver ""EndSection

Calibration

8060 Note: In the subsection, you'll find output from calibrate. If your tablet is listed there, you can just use that output instead.

If you tablet isn't listed, I would love to recieve an email with the output, and the model of your tablet. (See email at the end of the page.)

If you want to calibrate yourself, just proceed.

Enter the "calibrate"-directory - Run this command:

cd calibrate

Calibrate in order to find the edges of your tablet/digitizer - Run this command:

sudo ./wizardpen-calibrate /dev/tablet-event

You may find "/dev/tablet-event" missing, try this command to help find the correct value

ls /dev/input/by-id/

Example corrected "/dev/tablet-event" location. Use the value for rc.local and xorg.conf

/dev/input/by-id/usb-WALTOP_International_Corp._Slim_Tablet-event-if00

Save the output from wizardpen-calibrate (the last 10 lines) - You'll need it later in this HowTo.

Calibration output (If calibrate for some reason doesn't work)

Skip this section if calibrate worked for you.

Genius G-Pen F610 (WALTOP SlimTablet) :

Section "InputDevice" Identifier "WizardPen Tablet" Driver "wizardpen" Option "Device" "/dev/input/by-id/usb-WALTOP_International_Corp._Slim_Tablet-event-if00" Option "TopX" "295" Option "TopY" "210" Option "BottomX" "20000" Option "BottomY" "12500"EndSection

Tablet W5540U (UC-Logic):

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "WizardPen Tablet" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Driver "wizardpen" Option "Device" "/dev/tablet-event" Option "TopX" "2199" Option "TopY" "3598" Option "BottomX" "30325" Option "BottomY" "29278"EndSection

Tablet W8060U (UC-Logic):

Section "InputDevice" Identifier "WizardPen Tablet" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Driver "wizardpen" Option "Device" "/dev/tablet-event" Option "TopX" "826" Option "TopY" "2626" Option "BottomX" "32747" Option "BottomY" "32762"EndSection

Tablet PF1209 (UC-LOGIC)

Section "InputDevice" Identifier "WizardPen Tablet" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Driver "wizardpen" Option "Device" "/dev/tablet-event" Option "TopX" "0" Option "TopY" "1553" Option "BottomX" "32541" Option "BottomY" "32762"EndSection

Tablet W8060U (Trust TB-6300)

Section "InputDevice" Identifier "WizardPen Tablet" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Driver "wizardpen" Option "Device" "/dev/tablet-event" Option "TopX" "0" Option "TopY" "234" Option "BottomX" "32747" Option "BottomY" "32762"EndSection

For some configuration you might need to stop at this point and just add your TopX, TopY, BottomX, BottomY values into both sections of "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wizardpen.conf" file using syntax from examples above, without setting them in /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

Setting up X

Now we are ready to edit the xorg.conf file.

Take a backup - Run this command:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

Edit the file - Run this command:

sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Press "I" - So that "-- INSERT --" appears

Insert the output from calibrate into xorg.conf: (just place it below your generic mouse)

Add the following line in the "ServerLayout" section:

InputDevice "WizardPen Tablet" "AlwaysCore"

Save the file, and exit the editor (Press "ESC" and write ":wq" and press "Enter")

Making X start without a tablet connected

Now, the driver should NOT be initialized, if the tablet is NOT found

The wizardpen-driver does not support hotplugging, so we should run a script on startup, to define whether or not the tablet is present.

Open /etc/rc.local - Run this command:

sudo vim /etc/rc.local

Press "I" - So that "-- INSERT --" appears

...and insert some code: (insert it JUST above "exit 0")

XORG_CONF=/etc/X11/xorg.confif [ -e /dev/tablet-event ]; then sed -ie 's/^\(\s*\)\#\(\s*InputDevice\s\s*\"WizardPen\ Tablet\"\s\s*\"AlwaysCore\"\)\s*$/\1\2/' "$XORG_CONF" echo "Udev created /dev/tablet-event = Tablet present - Tablet-driver enabled"else sed -ie 's/\(^\s*InputDevice\s\s*\"WizardPen\ Tablet\"\s\s*\"AlwaysCore\"\)\s*$/\#&/' "$XORG_CONF" echo "Udev did NOT create /dev/tablet-event = tablet NOT present - Tablet-driver disabled"fi

Save the file, and exit the editor (Press "ESC" and write ":wq" and press "Enter")

Now you can test udev's ability to detect the tablet - Run this command:

sudo /etc/init.d/rc.local start

The output will tell you if it is present or not - And it should match reality (try to disconnect it, and try again - connect, and then again - etc...)

You should now be able to restart X and have the tablet working as a mouse.

I'm still working on a way to support hotplugging, but the above code-example will make X start without a present tablet.

Configuring the buttons on the pen

Special thanks to riesenpixel for writing the following part about the button-configuration.

There are two ways to change the button mapping:

The first way (Not very smart, since it also change the behaviour of your generic mouse)

If you want to change the button mapping for all devices running in core mode, you should use xmodmap. (not recommended, try the second way first)

Show the current configuration:

xmodmap -pp

You will get a table like this:

Physical Button Button Code 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9

For example, if you now want to change the middle button and the right button, execute the following command:

xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 3 2"

Here is a list of numbers with their corresponding function:

Number Function 0 No action (only movement)

1 Left button click 2 Middle Button click 3 Right Button click 4 Scroll up (one click equals one step of scroll wheel in my logitech mouse) 5 Scroll down

If you want to disable a button (maybe because you know that one of the buttons causes some problems), use zero. Example (should disable the right click):

xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 0"

To reset the xmodmap-configuration, use this command:

xmodmap -e "pointer = default"

The second way

If you are using more devices than just the tablet (e. g. mouse+tablet or multiple tablets a. s. o.) you can use this second way to change the mapping just for one device.

Step 1: Find the name of the device you want to change, e.g. with this command: xsetpointer -l alternatively you can use this command: xinput list

Step 2: execute this command to swap the middle and the right button ("WizardPen Tablet" is the device – if you want to change the configuration of another device, you have to change the name; use the table above to define other buttons)

xinput set-button-map "WizardPen Tablet" 1 3 2

Hint: If you experience problems with the buttons, use:

xinput set-button-map "WizardPen Tablet" 1 0 0

or, if you have a pen with 32 buttons

xinput set-button-map "WizardPen Tablet" 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

...to disable all buttons on your pen (for instance if you just want to draw).

Troubleshooting - See this if you have any problems

Everything worked great, except the mouse doesn't move at all

This is known to be an issue with WP8060 at least, and possibly other models. Fortunately, there is a common fix as well. You need to go back into /etc/X11/xorg.conf and modify the InputDevice section a little:

Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Tablet" Option "Name" "UC-LOGIC Tablet WP8060U" Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" Driver "wizardpen" Option "TopX" "2650" Option "TopY" "3563" Option "TopZ" "10" Option "BottomX" "30733" Option "BottomY" "29715" Option "BottomZ" "511"EndSection

The whole block is shown to indicate context. The main thing to change is the

Option "Name" "UC-LOGIC Tablet WP8060U"

part. Set the name to whatever type you have.

Reboot the XServer by logging out and back in, or typing sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart, or reboot your computer, and you're good to go.

After X server restart, display reverts to "Safe Mode"

From xtoast's suggestion on the discussion page (linked at the bottom of this article), I found the ServerLayout line provided in the Setting up X section above causes my xorg.conf to 'forget' basic video display settings. I used the line suggested on the discussion page instead:

InputDevice "Tablet" "SendCoreEvents"

Restarted the PC and everything worked. I did not follow the rest of the advice on the linked page because just modifying the ServerLayout line resolved my problem.

The command cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep "wizardpen" outputs errors

The output of

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep "wizardpen"

may reveal several errors, some of them are:

Module present, but with compilation-errors:

(II) LoadModule: "wizardpen"(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wizardpen_drv.sodlopen: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wizardpen_drv.so: undefined symbol: __stack_chk_fail_local(EE) Failed to load /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wizardpen_drv.so(II) UnloadModule: "wizardpen"

(EE) Failed to load module "wizardpen" (loader failed, 7)(EE) No Input driver matching `wizardpen'

Module missing:

(II) LoadModule: "wizardpen" (WW) Warning, couldn't open module wizardpen(II) UnloadModule: "wizardpen" (EE) Failed to load module "wizardpen" (module does not exist, 0)(EE) No Input driver matching `wizardpen'

The Xserver is not starting after playing with the xorg.conf file

Wow - That's bad - First of all, check that you set everything right.

Well, I suggest that you drop me an email, telling me what went wrong.

And then just restore the backup we created - run this command:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Everything seems to work, except pressure sensitivity

All the tablets mentioned in "known tablets" has pressure sensitivity support in Linux.

If pressure-sensitivity doesn't work, there are 3 possible causes:

1. The driver is not properly installed

2. The tablet is not supported by this driver

3. The application is not properly configured, to accept pressure sensitivity.

Please make sure that your favourite application supports pressure sensitivity.

Application Support for pressure sensitivity Guide Krita Full support since 1.6 Non yet Inkscape Full support TabletSetupInkscape Gimp Full support - but problems with 2.2.13 TabletSetupGIMP

Please tell me about other applications.

Pressure sensitivity works, but is not calibrated well

The section we inserted into xorg.conf holds some options to calibrate the area of the tablet, but I haven't put in options to configure pressure sensitivity, since it varies a lot.

You can insert these options to enable MAX and MIN pressure sensitivity:

Option "TopZ" "10" Option "BottomZ" "511"

Where "TopZ" represents the lowest pressure-level to accept, and "BottomZ" represents the maximum pressure-level to accept.

The tablet is automatically detected as a generic mouse

In addition to the Wizardpen configuration, my system automatically configured the tablet as a generic, relative-positioned mouse. This double configuration caused the mouse pointer to move out of sync with the tablet's absolute position. Explicitly defining X11's CorePointer Device prevented auto-configuration of the tablet, leaving Wizardpen the only driver using the device (the desired behavior). For an example configuration, see the forum post: How do I -disable- tablet control of the mouse?.

The tablet works but losts cursor on each touch. Cursor reveals if to move pen out and bring it back to tablet

On my WALTOP tablet it was solved by: 1) restoring original /etc/X11/xorg.conf 2) updating "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wizardpen.conf" with "|WALTOP|Waltop" in MatchVendor value 3) adding TopX, TopY, BottomX, BottomY right into "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wizardpen.conf" for both sections. You can get them using calibrate or at worst by experimental way.

Clicking does weird things or the cursor jumps

If your tablet input works, but you experience strange behaviour when clicking (it seemingly doubleclicks or drags when you try to single-click), or the mouse cursor jumps around, it might be that your device is configured twice.

The device will show up multiple times in "xinput list", sometimes even under different names.

This happens if you define both a specific section "InputDevice" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf and have an "InputClass" in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wizardpen.conf.

Comment out either of them to solve the problem.

I have problems not solved by the above troubleshooting

Try one of these forums:

http://www.stud.fit.vutbr.cz/~xhorak28/unb/forum.php

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1337260

Related articles

Talking about hotplugging: (haven't tested it - Please mail me in case it works, and should be implemented here) http://deadcabbit.blogspot.com/2007/07/linux-genius-wizardpen-setup-for-udev.html